Monday, June 15, 2009

Markets: Light Volume Selloff

I saw someone (it might have been Louise Yamada*) point out last week that, because of declining leverage at hedge funds and prime brokers, low volume might be the "new normal". I would have to agree. That said, today's volume is pretty low, as Bespoke points out:

It's hard to find anything positive to say about a 2.5% selloff in the S&P 500, but at least volume has been light. As of 1:30 PM ET, volume in S&P 500 stocks stood at 2.115 bln shares. Since the market low on March 9th, the only two days with lighter volume as of 1:30 PM were last week (6/8 & 6/9)....MORE

*Louise Yamada is a top rated technical analyst but even she isn't perfect. Here's a post at Investment Postcards from Cape Town dated March 2, 2009:

That was a week before the start of the big rally. But as Prieur du Plessis says:

While one support level after the other of the major US stock market indices is being breached, I have just come across a CNBC interview with top-ranked Louise Yamada of Technical Research Advisors. Louise’s track record is just too good to be ignored, especially when she mentions possible targets of 4,000 and 400 on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index respectively....